Sermon Tone Analysis

The End of the Church Age - Week 14

We have finished the seven letters to the seven churches, and tonight we are going to look at the end of the church age.

Now let me say, as I did when we first started this study, that there are multiple different directions or ways you can look at some of these positions, such as the rapture and when it takes place, and there are Scriptures that can be used to back up the different positions taken, but I am going to share the position I follow, and we will go from there.

With that said, if anyone follows a different position, you are welcomed to get with me after Bible Study and we can discuss it and look at it further in future dates.

With all that said, tonight we are looking in chapter 4 of Revelations, as the letters have wrapped up, the church age has wrapped up, and Jesus has brought his people, his followers to heaven with him.

There is a brief part here about their arrival in heaven, and then we turn to everything that will take place after God’s people leave the earth.

Following the pre-tribulation view of the rapture, which would take place at the end of chapter three of Revelation and just as chapter four begins.

The church age ends at the rapture of the church.

At the midnight cry Jesus will come for His own.

Those who are saved and are still living will be miraculously transformed with glorified bodies and caught up in the air to meet the Lord.

Those whose bodies sleep in the earth will be raised from their sleeping place to meet their heavenly spirits with the Lord in the air.

We need to be ready and we do not have to be fearful of this, actually as Christians we should be excited and be looking forward to it.

Remember that sorrow looks back, worry looks all around, but hope looks up.

We are on a collision course with destiny, and we cannot afford to be ignorant.

Once we as God’s people are removed from the earth, then God will begin His judgment of the earth and pour out His wrath on the earth, through the tribulation period.

But before God pours out His wrath, He gives us a glimpse into glory and permits us to hear the worshipping of the creatures that are in heaven that are surrounding His throne as they praise Him.

Let’s begin in with Revelation 4:1

From this point on, we will be studying everything that will transpire after the rapture of the church.

To help us remember these things, We will be asking four questions: What?

Who? When? and Why?

I. What is the Sacred Mystery of the Rapture?

A Bible mystery is not a story you might read in a novel; instead, it is a truth that has been hidden, a truth that no one can understand apart from God.

And it can only be revealed by divine revelation in the Word of God.

The only way people today know about the mystery of the rapture is by studying what the New Testament prophets had to say.

This was revealed to the Apostle Paul who said in 1 Corinthians 15:51-53

Paul explained the church age, the things which are.

This is that interval between the time when Jesus came the first time and when He will come again the second time.

In Revelation 4:1 we learn that John was taken up to heaven through a door and heard a voice say, come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.

A corresponding New Testament verse about the rapture of the church is 1 Thessalonians 4:13

At the time Paul wrote Thessalonians the people of Thessalonica were ignorant about what happened to those who died before Jesus’ return.

God’s Word teaches us that when the rapture occurs, the body of the believer will awaken from the grave and be reunited with his spirit that is with the Lord.

The body will ascend from the earth, and the spirit will descend from heaven.

Sometimes people will ask, Do your really believe in the Rapture?

I even seen a survey that asked believers - church goers - about the rapture, and the was a good percentage that do not believe in the rapture.

But when I am asked, I respond, I believe in the rapture because I believe the gospel - the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The rapture is linked to His redemption.

If you have Calvary without the rapture, it is like having up without down or night without day.

II.

Who is the Select Multitude of the Rapture?

The select multitude of the rapture is represented by the twenty-four elders as Revelation 4:4

Elders are representatives of God’s people.

For instance, every minister is an elder of his church.

Why twenty-four elders?

Twelve, you may recall is God’s governmental number - the number that denotes the rule of God on earth.

Further on in the book of Revelation, we learn that there are twelve gates in the new Jerusalem, which is the place we call heaven or glory.

The name of each of the twelve patriarchs of the tribes of Israel are inscribed on those twelve gates.

In addition, the twelve apostles are named for the foundation of the city.

Twelve patriarchs from the Old Testament and twelve apostles from the New Testament.

Put them together and they make twenty-four.

These twenty-four elders represent the saints of God.

And one day we will meet all of these men!

Notice how John described these elders.

They are saints clothed in white and wearing crowns on their heads.

Their white clothing represents the righteousness of Christ manifested in their lives.

White is mentioned in Revelation 19:8

The crowns of gold on their heads were placed there when they came before the judgment seat of Christ.

Every believer will stand before Christ’s judgments seat.

At the beginning of this section, I mentioned there was a select group in the rapture.

Let me explain.

Not everybody will be raptured because Jesus said in Luke 17:34-37

Sometimes when I am preaching, I look out upon the congregation and wonder if the rapture was to occur before I finished my sermon.

See to me everyone looks the same more or less, but if I had the eyes of Christ, see as God told Samuel in 1 Samuel 16:7

And that is what separates the saved from the lost - those who are ready for Jesus Christ to come and those who are not.

We see people as their outward appearance but God sees their heart.

At the rapture the person sitting next to you at the dinner table will go and you will remain.

Or you may go and that person will remain.

Two will be sitting in church.

One will be taken and the other left.

There is a select multitude - only the saved will be going.

Some what to believe that there is going to be universal salvation, meaning that God would not send people to Hell, but that will allow everyone into heaven because he is a loving God.

Yes, He is a loving God but He is also a just God, and there will not be a universal salvation, if you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus, then you will not make it into heaven.

III.

When Will the Rapture take Place?

There is no question - the rapture will happen!

And it will happen suddenly and immediately.

John had been looking at the churches and describing the church age, when suddenly the trumpet sounded and he was immediately caught up into heaven.

Here is how he described what happened in Revelation 4:1-2

Today we are living in the church age, which is also called the age of grace.

After Revelation 3. we will notice that the word church is no longer mentioned because the church is raptured!

And this begins the next phase of God’s work on earth.

When is Jesus coming for His church?

I do not know.

Nobody knows, though we have a lot of soothsayers, prognosticators, astrologers, and so-called prophets trying to predict when this will happen.

But they are not prophetic; they are pathetic.

No one has a shred of information about when the rapture will happen.

If someone comes along and tries to tell you, I know when Jesus is coming again, I know when the rapture is going to take place, you need to ask them, Will you give me the deed to your house effective the day after and do it now?

No one but God the Father alone knows when Jesus will return.

Why?

It is a sacred mystery.

Jesus said in Matthew 24:36-44

We see all kinds of events that seem to indicate that the coming of Jesus is soon; but no sign proves that, and no lack of signs disproves it.

Let me give an illustration to try to explain it a little better:

Shortly after Halloween, many retail stores start displaying Christmas decorations.

When you see those decorations, does that mean Christmas is next week?

No, it means Thanksgiving is coming next!

Now indeed Christmas is coming, but Thanksgiving will come first.

The signs we see may be of the great events that will take place after the rapture of the church, but the rapture must come first.

There will be plenty of signs after the rapture that foretell the final climax of history and signs before the rapture that speak of events that take place after the rapture.

Yet there is no sign or event that must take place before the rapture can happen.

Certainly there are signs that would seem to point toward Christ’s return.